Topeka-based project to fund international aquaponics program

Trash Mountain plans fish-growing effort in Dominican Republic

Chris Mammoliti, right, explains the workings of an aquaponics facility operated by Trash Mountain Project in North Topeka. Looking on is Isaac Tarwater. Aquaponics allows plants to be grown without soil.

Teach the same person to grow tilapia in a storage tank system that also grows edible plants, and that person eats for a lifetime.

And, potentially, so does everyone in his village.

Such is the philosophy behind a ground-breaking aquaponics effort sponsored by Topeka-based Trash Mountain Project that is slated to get started in earnest by next May in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The aquaponics program then is to be taken to other impoverished areas around the world.

Aquaponics is a sustainable system that allows plants to be grown without soil in nutrient-rich water.

Trash Mountain Project’s system will grow a type of fish known as tilapia, the waste from which will provide nutrients for water that is circulated by pumps, siphons and gravity to growth tanks for plants.

For the past few months, Chris Mammoliti and Isaac Tarwater have been working at a newly constructed Trash Mountain Project building in the 4100 block of N.W. 62nd to perfect an aquaponics system similar to one that will be built next May in the Dominican Republic. The building, which sits on the northwest corner of N.W. 62nd and US-75 highway, contains special grow lights and a total of 11 interconnected tanks, with water circulating through each one of them.

Four of the tanks are filled with tilapia of various ages and sizes; five are grow tanks where various kinds of produce can be grown; and two tanks filter out impurities and help provide nutrients to keep the whole ecosystem functioning.

The setup is allowing Mammoliti and Tarwater to refine the aquaponics process before starting construction in the Dominician Republic.

“The goal is for us to make our mistakes here, before we start building the system in the Dominican Republic,” said Mammoliti, aquaponics director for Trash Mountain Project. “So this is the prototype.”

Mammoliti, 55, who previously worked as a biologist at Westar Energy before coming on board with Trash Mountain Project, said a work crew from Topeka’s Fellowship Bible Church will go in May to the Dominican Republic to build the first system.

Tarwater, 24, who started with Trash Mountain Project in August, then will stay behind to help Dominican Republic residents learn how to operate and maintain the system.

Both Mammoliti and Tarwater are taking Spanish classes at present so they will be able to better communicate with Dominican Republic residents.

The estimated cost to build a system overseas is $20,000, Mammoliti said, though no one will know the final cost for sure until the first one is built. The plan is to buy as many supplies for construction and repair work from businesses based in the Dominican Republic.

Eventually, Mammoliti said, Trash Mountain Project wants to turn over the aquaponics system to Dominican Republic residents, then walk away from day-to-day operation.

Mammoliti said Trash Mountain Project believes that once the aquaponics system is up and running, it will be able to produce 1,000 pounds of tilapia every six to eight months. If each fish grows to be 1 pound, 1,000 fish will be available for consumption every six to eight months.

However, if the fish are harvested at a half-pound each, then 2,000 fish will be available for meals every six to eight months.

Additionally, four pounds of vegetables can be produced for each pound of fish. That means 4,000 pounds of vegetables are possible in the aquaponics system every six to eight months.

In time, the aquaponics system may be able to go beyond providing food for Dominican Republican residents and could become a livelihood for those now living in poverty.

Through the process, Trash Mountain Project aims at bringing the gospel to the areas it serves.

“There’s an aspect of this that is mainly humanitarian,” Mammoliti said. “But at the same time, we can share Christ with the people we are serving.”

First things first, Mammoliti said — and that is feeding the children.

“You can’t share Christ with a starving child,” he said. “First, you have to feed him.”

Mammoliti said the research-and-development facility in North Topeka isn’t air-conditioned and can become hot in the summer months.

Large poster-sized photos of children in the Dominican Republic that are placed on the building’s interior walls serve to remind Mammoliti and Tarwater of the conditions in the Caribbean nation and provide motivation to continue forging ahead.

Tarwater said the aquaponics system is merely an imitation of the ecosystem created by God in ponds and lakes.

The aquaponics system is simple yet complex, Tarwater said, but “you don’t have to know all the science” to figure it out.

“I didn’t know anything about it until I started working here a few months ago,” said Tarwater, who previously had made two mission trips to the Dominican Republic with Trash Mountain Project. “I’ve had a good teacher in Chris.”

Trash Mountain Project, an international ministry that is active in some of the poorest cities of the world, was founded in 2009 by the Topeka husband-and-wife team of Brett and Jaelle Durbin.

The Christian-based organization’s goal is to improve living conditions for those who make their homes amid the squalor of gigantic trash dumps in nations such as the Dominican Republic, Honduras and the Philippines.

Already, Trash Mountain Project has started schools, medical clinics and housing developments for those living in garbage dumps that can cover as much as 50 city blocks.

Several Topeka churches have been instrumental in supporting and raising up volunteers for Trash Mountain Project, sponsoring missions trips every year.

The North Topeka aquaponics facility isn’t open to the public, but tours can be arranged by contacting info@trashmountain.com.

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is an interesting concept...one definitely worth study and I hope that the cj updates it from time to time. years ago I had a small aquarium when my children were smaller; we really enjoyed watching and taking care of the fish. I also had houseplants. whenever it was time to clean the aquarium I saved the water in gallon jugs to water the plants with. the plants, I think, thought they had manna from heaven, and thrived beautifully.
the only household members frustrated were our cats...I had aluminum screening secured to the top of the tank and all those cats could do was sit there wishing and hoping...